Thursday, August 15, 2013

Piper’s Journey

I’m finally going to show you the 5th project I took with me on our big road trip. I started it after we returned and it moved along so quickly I waited to share photos until it was done. The pattern is called Piper’s Journey and I used some handspun that I made way back in 2010. It is a merino-silk blend (70/30 I think) from Ashland Bay.This shawl is constructed just like the Canyonlands one I just finished for my mom – a simple garter crescent with a lace edging. Only this edging is MUCH simpler than the other one. Like the other pattern, this one tells the knitter how much yarn to save for the edging. Specifically, it says: “The style of the lace border makes an exact stitch count somewhat unimportant as this border can begin or end anywhere in the chart. It would be easy to adjust the size. The border requires a little over 1/3 of the total yardage.”

I divided my skein by weight 60/40, giving myself more of a cushion than I did with the Canyonlands shawl. Luckily, the yarn held out – BUT JUST BARELY. I had less than 1 yard remaining after the bind off! Why does this keep happening to me?!? I knit the garter section until the stitch count was the same as the pattern (even though I wasn’t finished with my 60% ball of yarn) and then began the edging. You can see by the ends hanging out how far into the edging I got before starting my 40% ball (it was 38 stitches into the 243 total stitches I had to pick up):When this happened on Canyonlands, I assumed it was a pattern issue. Now that it’s happened twice, I have to wonder if it’s me. But how could it be? The only thing I can think of is that maybe my gauge in garter is far looser than it is in stockinette, and my garter crescents eat up more yarn than they do for the designer. Hmmm. I don’t know. But I can tell you that this is a delightfully simple pattern that results in a very wearable garment. It was chilly out yesterday morning when we took these photos, and I ended up wearing it most of the day. I would definitely make this pattern again (though I’d be careful about dividing my yarn!). It’s flexible enough to work well for special yarns you can’t replenish, including handspun.